National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Wichita has only received 38 percent of its normal rainfall since mid June.

Much of south central and southeast Kansas have received some much
needed rainfall in the past 10 days or so. However, the area is
still far behind where it should be since mid June.

After going without measurable rainfall from late July to mid
August, almost 3 weeks, the Wichita Mid-continent airport has
recorded 1.26 inches of rain since August 17th. This is still
1.43 inches below normal for the month of August. Looking back
since June 9th, Wichita has only received 3.46 inches of rain.
The normal rainfall for this 81 day period is 8.94 inches. To put it
another way, Wichita has only received 38 percent of its normal
rainfall since mid June.

Despite the recent rains, the long term palmer drought severity
index, which is a measure of prolonged moisture deficiency or
excess, has seen parts of south central Kansas go from incipient
drought into the mild drought classification. In fact, all of
south central and southeast Kansas are in the mild drought category.
The palmer drought index categories range from extreme
drought, minus 4.0 and below, to extreme moist spell, plus 4.0
and above. Areas of south central Kansas range from minus 1.2 west
of Wichita, to minus 1.8 to the east of Wichita.

Input to the palmer index include the weekly precipitation totals
across a given climate region and the average temperature. Other
parameters and constants dealing with the soil moisture are also
considered in the calculations.

Welcome rain has fallen across the area of late, however more
significant rainfall is still needed to alleviate the longer term
dry conditions which have prevailed over much of this hot summer.

This story was brought to you by the National Weather Service - Wichita, Kansas.